Saturday, August 25, 2007

Venting

I know I complain sometimes, but I am generally happy with the comics I'm buying. That's why I buy them. There's just some things that need to be pointed out, particularly when the problem is harmful like sexism. However, as the editorial direction at DC goes, most of it kicks ass in various ways.

(On the contrary, I can't stand what Marvel's doing which is why you rarely see me on Marvel blogs trashing Marvel staff in the comments of perfectly happy Marvel fans.)

Unfortunately, I can't bow out of the online comics community without dumping WFA entirely on Kalinara's shoulders (and that's mean) so I get to go and read everyone constantly complaining about the stuff I really enjoy, and oftentimes marrying it to a complaint I have as though that makes it more legitimate.

For example, A) "There's a conspiracy to kill off JLI characters" is often connected to a complaint about B) the proliferation of rape in comics due to Sue Dibny's treatment in Identity Crisis.

The two opinions can co-exist in one mind, that's no problem for me. The problem is when B is used to prop up the legitimacy of "A."

It comes in a little tiny hint sometimes, like "You hated Identity Crisis, right?" or "You hate retconned rape, like what happened to Sue, right?" in a conversation about hating on a particular writer or editor at DC Comics. The crux of it is that I should agree with them and be hoping for the person in question to be humiliated/fired/maimed/folded/spindled/mutilated because I dislike that storytelling trend and so should dislike everything else associated with the person.

Because apparently no writer has ever written something stereotyped, had the sexism pointed out and gone on to be a better writer. And apparently no good writer has ever let anything slip past him on a bad day.

Its similar to the people who were defending the Killing Joke earlier this week, because "You can't say that about Alan Moore!" Because in that point of view, like the above one, we don't criticize anything unless everything connected with it is utter shit.

All or nothing with some people.

At best, its a serious misunderstanding of the nature of criticism. At worst, its a slimy manipulative technique that places a person somewhere between a worm and a fossilized trilobite in my personal estimation.

11 comments:

I hated Identity Crisis AND Killing Joke ... so at least I'm consistent.

DC does still put out good titles (I'm a recent convert to Blue Beetle), but I am a bit embittered because I dropped a lot of money on OYL titles only to see most of them drop the ball.

(Still upset over the aborted Sword of Atlantis revamp ... )

Still, different strokes for different folks.

Anyway, I would be curious to know what you hate so much about Marvel. Civil War putridity (yes I made it up) aside, they are putting out a number of good books these days ... many of which have no connection to "The Initiative."

As far as rampant sexism and overwrought violence goes, both companies are equally guilty these days. Quesada does make a bigger @$$ of himself than DiDio though.

Perhaps this reaction falls under the "You have to like what I like" banner. If you don't worship everything the other person does, then you must be a BAD person, with bad taste, who probably goes out and kicks puppies to boot.

Tastes change, people change, people grow up. Books that I adored at fifteen make me cringe now. I grew up with X-Men, I worshipped the ground that Chris Claremont and John Byrne walked upon. Now...not so much. In fact hardly at all. But that doesn't mean that YOU can't like X-Men.

I'm not even going to get into the Hal vs Kyle wackos. It IS possible to love both.

Good lord, there are people calling for writers to lose their jobs because they wrote something they (the fans) didn't like? Christ. I hope to never encounter such fans, I'm liable to give them a stern talking-to at the very least. No matter how you personally feel about someone's product, this is how they make their living, folks. Try, just once, to have a teensy bit more respect for real people than for fictional characters???

Tom -- Naw, that was more about the one person who went down a laundry list of female characters Alan Moore has written than the people who engaged the discussion on the merits of the book itself.

Elayne -- Well, this specific instance was of people arguing that the EIC of the whole company should lose his job for what the writers wrote, but yeah I've seen more than a few people who've called for writers that I generally like to lose their jobs over something like the death of a minor character.

UP -- Well, Winick and Meltzer have skill -- its just not with what they've been hired to do. Winick should be doing creator-owned comedy (and he should stay far far away from social commentary) and Meltzer character-driven low action books (as opposed to something like JLA). Well, with Meltzer I just think he needs a training writer and he could be really good.

"Good lord, there are people calling for writers to lose their jobs because they wrote something they (the fans) didn't like? Christ. I hope to never encounter such fans, I'm liable to give them a stern talking-to at the very least. No matter how you personally feel about someone's product, this is how they make their living, folks. Try, just once, to have a teensy bit more respect for real people than for fictional characters???"

Whatever intrinsic value comic book writers and artists may have as human beings, they're still in the entertainment biz. Readers have the right to buy a title, or not buy a title, or even not buy a title and tell the company why they're not buying and what it would take to win them back (which may well boil down to "hire better talent"). Now, I won't deny it's possible to take that to silly extremes, but it's likewise a silly extreme to believe that writers and artists should be allowed to keep their jobs no matter how poorly their efforts are received.

"Well, this specific instance was of people arguing that the EIC of the whole company should lose his job for what the writers wrote,"

That idea in itself really ISN'T a problem for me, when it becomes more than obvious that said EIC is fairly (ir)responsible for his company's overall direction. That's part of why they're FIGUREHEADS, after all; they're supposed to get knocked off once in awhile. :)

Anon -- Here's the thing. Not everyone believes the overall editorial direction in this case is bad. I'm one of the people who think the overall direction is quite acceptable with a few minor points of contention. Were this a matter of nothing but utter shit coming out every week, I'd agree, but I love about 90% of what DC is doing with my favorite characters.

To me, you guys are suggesting we throw the baby out with the bathwater.

And its more than a little annoying when someone uses the issues surrounding how society views the color pink as a talking point when questioning why I'd rather not throw the baby out.

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